Saturday, June 25, 2011

Garden Song and Tiny from the compilation From The Bottom of an Old Grandfather Clock (a collection of outtakes and demos 1966-1970) (now, sadly, out of print), Wooden Hill, 2004. (If any of the invloved parties would like me to remove the audio, please let me know.)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

from The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey, Princeton Architectural Press, NY, 2010---The book documents W. Reginald Bray's experiments with the postal system. Bray's postcard addressed to "Any Resident of London" predates Ben Vautier's "Postman's Choice" by 66 years! Read more here at A Sound Awareness (thanks Martin!)

I was reminded of this book as a postal strike continues here in Canada.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

(detail from) From King Boggen's Hall to Nothing-at-all: A Collection of Improbable Houses and Unusual Places Found in Traditional Rhymes and Limericks, illustrated by Blair Lent, Little Brown, Boston, 1967

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Art of Paper Tearing: Methods and Routines for the Amateur Performer by Eric Hawkesworth (illustrated by the author), Faber & Faber, London, 1970 (1973)"These routines, together with the necessary instructions for preparing the basic folds, are presented to teach the amateur performer the whole art of paper tearing. Once it is learned, the performer can put on a show anywhere because the craft is literally at his finger tips and the raw material always to hand in the form of newspaper. Most of the methods were devised by the old-time artistes of music hall and variety who developed this type of act into a fine art. This is the first book that offers a complete course of instruction from folding the papers to a finished presentation with effective patter."